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December 16, 2011 in City
Stowell’s tenure held challenges
Spokane Public Schools Superintendent Nancy Stowell, right, participates in the filming of “School Talk,” a public-affairs program, at KSPS on Thursday.
(Full-size photo)
During her final six months as Spokane Public Schools superintendent, Nancy Stowell plans to write a retirement wish list on a big piece of paper that will hang on the back of her office door.
On Thursday, she rattled off a few items she already has in mind: “I want to spend time with my husband. I want to learn how to speak fluent French. I want to learn to play the piano. I want to cook.”
In a surprise announcement Wednesday, Stowell, the district’s first female superintendent, announced she’s decided after 40 years as an educator that it’s time to retire. Her final day is June 30.
“I’m 63,” Stowell said. “I’ve worked since I was in high school. I’ve loved all my jobs, but I am 63.”
Stowell started her teaching career in 1970 working in Shoreline and Puyallup schools in Western Washington and teaching a variety of high school classes, including history, civics, psychology and world geography.
Her first teaching job in Spokane was a one-year stint at St. Paschal’s School. She started her career with Spokane Public Schools in 1974 as a teacher at Libby Middle School and worked her way up to become leader of the state’s second-largest district in 2008.
“She earned her way into each succeeding step, paving the way for many behind her,” said Bob Douthitt, Spokane school board president.
Men dominated leadership positions when Stowell entered the field. Stowell has been a “quiet feminist pioneer,” Douthitt said.
Colleagues were surprised to hear Stowell’s announcement.
Mark Anderson, associate superintendent, said he knew retirement was something she was considering in the next couple years, but not so soon.
Anderson, who is second in command, has spent many hours working with Stowell as the district has had to slash millions from its budget.
“I will miss the camaraderie and problem-solving,” he said.
The district will miss her leadership, he added. “She’s just so knowledgeable and has such a great way of working with school leaders, principals and all the instructional staff. She’s truly your education superintendent,” he said. “She’s sat in all the chairs. And all the way, she’s been such a class act.”
Stowell’s time at the helm also brought some communitywide criticism over a dropout rate that neared 40 percent and administrative pay increases of 3 percent-plus in the midst of a slumping economy.
Stowell collaborated with staff, faculty and community leaders to create programs to address the dropout rate.
A Gonzaga University study funded in part by the Inland Northwest Community Foundation identified ways to catch potential dropouts at the middle-school level. Thus, intervention programs were put in place to catch kids who are failing reading and math, requiring them to spend extra time with a teacher and/or online help.
Additionally, multiple credit retrieval and mentor programs were implemented at the high schools. As a result, on-time graduation has increased by nearly 20 percent, according to preliminary figures from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The pay raises prompted a board room filled with angry educators and a vocal union president.
“While the Spokane Education Association and the district have had their issues in the past, such as the administrator raises last year, Nancy has always been respectful and willing to listen,” said Spokane Education Association President Jenny Rose.
Stowell and all school administrators have since taken pay reductions of 3 percent or more. At the same time, the state cut teachers’ pay by 1.9 percent. Stowell’s final salary is $216,615.
Said Rose, “I can honestly say that she will be missed, but I know that the most exciting time of her life is just beginning, and we wish her the best.”
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Notapatriot on December 16 at 4:59 a.m.
$200K for superintendent is absurd. It always so refreshing to see these numbers to remind me how to vote. The waste of our tax dollars never ceases to amaze me. Have you been to one of our newly remodeled high schools? Good gawd what pathetic waste.
Notapatriot on December 16 at 5:04 a.m.
…and - she’ll likely collect 80% of that $200k staying home learning to play the piano on some outrageous retirement package the union is handing our fine administrators that pump out this pathetic collection of poorly educated, high drop out rate bunch in their care. Nicely done. A big kiss on both cheeks.
pseeger on December 16 at 7:44 a.m.
So remodeling schools is a waste of tax dollars? Lewis and Clark was almost 90 years old when it was remodeled, Rogers was built in 1932, and both Ferris and Shadle were built in the early 60’s. Would your preference have been that students continue to attend outdated and in some cases unsafe buildings? Construction and remodeling projects are from monies dedicated specifically to those undertakings and approved by voters in bond issues that are separate from maintenance and operations levies. But feel free to register your disapproval with votes that will hurt kids more than teachers and administrators. (School administrators, by the way, are non-union, and the TRS Plan 1 percentage is 60%, not 80.)
meadman on December 16 at 8:32 a.m.
“pathetic collection of poorly educated, high drop out rate bunch”……. what a crock!!! I venture to say that kids graduating from the Spokane schools are (as a group) well-educated and upstanding and a huge percentage go on to college, trade school or careers that they can be proud of….. what is sad is that the only ones who get any publicity are those that get into trouble. A kid who does well and goes on in life as a success is NOT news, so the press ignores them. Bad news and sensationalism is what sells papers and ads on TV………. unfortunate but true.
avocet on December 16 at 9:34 a.m.
meadman, there are definitely a lot of “good eggs” out there. But our education system DOES have a lot of problems. For example, remedial (high-school) level math and English classes at colleges and universities are bursting at the seams. Meanwhile, a superintendent makes almost a quarter of a million a year. Something is very wrong with that picture.
Notapatriot on December 16 at 3:25 p.m.
Let’s see. Let’s start with clock towers PSeeger. Do we need clock towers? How much do you suppose those cost. Ever go into one of the gyms? Training rooms that rival the finest athletic clubs in town. How about glass backboards. Remember the half moon metal ones along the walls when you were in school? LC, Shadle and Rogers now have dozens and dozens and dozens of glass backboards. Any idea what those cost? No less than$1500 each. Metal half moons - around $200 each. I could have shaved hundreds of thousands in waste in those buildings. It’s a pathetic waste. The more we give the more they spend. There is no end to the waste.
…and yes - they largely - but not all - are undereducated, high drop out rate, poor test scoring people ill equipped to do much more than work in service industries and text while driving. I’ll go out on a limb here and throw in that most of their ilk could stand to drop a few pounds while their at it.
I have pushed kids through our public school system and sent uncorrected papers my kids got A’s on back because of misspelled words and typos that I venture to say the teacher didn’t know were misspelled and had bad punctuation.
I’m not impressed. Our education system being so broken is why 3rd world nations are eating our lunch while our unions bankrupt the country.
Cheers.
pseeger on December 16 at 5:56 p.m.
There, they’re, their…and then a sentence that runs on forever. If you’re going to post comments so critical of our schools, at least do it with some degree of literacy! And half-moon backboards? That comment alone makes it impossible to take you seriously. See you in class.
greenlibertarian on December 16 at 7:01 p.m.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. - by Mencken, H. L..
Notapatriot seems to embody that statement.
Spokane_Citizen on December 16 at 7:40 p.m.
Give Notapatriot a break…he’s most definitely a product of society’s poor educational efforts!
misjustice on December 16 at 8:42 p.m.
Notapatriot = Notascholar
Notapatriot on December 16 at 9:54 p.m.
Notapatriot = NotaBleedingHeartLiberalUnionizedKoolAidDrinkingFool.
laurierogers on May 02 at 10:04 a.m.
After reading these comments, and after receiving some questions from local citizens, I realized that no one seems to know what Superintendent Nancy Stowell will receive in retirement.
Through a public records request, I asked the state to provide that information. I think it’s important and necessary for the public to know what taxpayers will have to pay for this administrator after she’s gone.
The state has said that Stowell has the option to engage in legal action to keep that information from citizens.
I’ll let you know what happens.
Laurie Rogers
Spokane